node / express REST API application - passing parameters to GET method
Solution 1
Do I need to create two separate methods, one that accepts a parameter and one that doesn't?
I'm guessing you posted this before even trying that?
The answer is yes.
Your route that accepts parameters should look like this:
app.get('/emergency/:id', function (req, res, next) {
var id = req.params.id;
console.log('The id: ' + id);
});
Solution 2
Yes,it is necessary to have two different functions that listen to each type of url. This is because The url
http://localhost/example/abcd will get received in
router.get('/example/:username',testFunction1);
whereas
http://localhost/example will be received in
router.get('/example',testFunction2);
Refer to the article: http://codewhoop.com/article/Nodejs%20Getting%20parameters%20through%20GET%20method for detailed explanation of procedure to fetch paramters through GET method in Nodejs.
Happydevdays
Updated on July 09, 2022Comments
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Happydevdays almost 2 years
Background
I'm writing a sample nodejs / express REST interface or API for the purposes of learning. I've created a new route called "emergency".
In the file I have the following code:
router.get('/', function(req, res, next) { //var ip = req.params.ip; res.send('respond with a resource'); });
When I start the application and navigate to http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency everything works fine and I see the "respond with a resource" message.
Goal
I'd like my application to be able to accept parameters as well. So fro example, when a user navigates to
http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency
I want all emergency numbers to be queried and returned. But they should also be able to do this:
http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency/12345
and the system should query the database for emergency record 12345 and return the appropriate result set.
Problem / Question
In order to accommodate both types of GET queries, I've changed the code to look like this:
router.get('/id', function(req, res, next) { //var ip = req.params.ip; res.send('respond with a resource'); });
Now when I run the application, and browse to
http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency/12345
it works. However, browsing to
http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency
fails with a 404 error message.
Not Found
404
Error: Not Found at /var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/app.js:34:13 at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/layer.js:95:5) at trim_prefix (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:312:13) at /var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:280:7 at Function.process_params (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:330:12) at next (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:271:10) at /var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:618:15 at next (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:256:14) at Function.handle (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:176:3) at router (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:46:12)
Do I need to create two separate methods, one that accepts a parameter and one that doesn't? (aka method overloads?) Perhaps my understanding of REST is what's faulty. Should a GET request look like :
http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency
or should it always look like this:
http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency/{id}
Maybe the proper way to do a GET for all records is something like this:
http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency/all
I'm trying to google my question right now as well, but I'm having a hard time expressing it succinctly enough to get an accurate search result set.
EDIT 1
This is what my code looks like when I try to create two methods (and this works)
router.get('/', function(req, res, next) { res.send('respond with a resource'); }); router.get('/:id', function(req, res, next) { var id = req.params.id; console.log(id); res.send('got it'); });
But this just feels odd because I guess I'm used to other frameworks in other languages where the system can check for empty params so you just need one method. this is not a complaint! just a comment that might explain why my brain is "expecting" the system to work a different way.